This invention relates to an animal feeder and will have application to a feeder which is operated by the animal and which dispenses the feed at a predetermined rate.
Animal feeders which utilize gravity-induced feed flow are well known in the art of husbandry. Such feeders included a rotatable feed wheel positioned within a feed-receiving trough below a hopper which contained a supply of feed. As the animal during feeding turned the feed wheel with its head, the feed in the hopper was agitated and fell into the feed-receiving trough for consumption by the animal. Such feeders also included a deflector positioned within the hopper to control feed flow into the feed-receiving trough. Feeders of this nature are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,222,556; 2,153,455; 2,484,967; 4,353,259 and 4,462,338.
A disadvantage of some of these feeders is that due to the weight of feed in the hopper, the feed tends to "bridge" and further distribution into the trough is sporadic and difficult to achieve by animal manipulation of the feed wheel.